I Was In Prison

Jesus teaches us to put the needs of others before our own - He gave His life, so that we might have eternal life in Him...He came to earth so that we might be brought into the Kingdom of Heaven.  His love is a sacrificial love, and He gives us the capacity to love others with that type of love.  Even for those less fortunate than we, to those who struggle, even to those in prison.  In Matthew 25 (ESV), Jesus taught:
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. ’

Verse 40 provides the reminder that as we serve those who are down and out, "And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. ’"

A God Reports article tells the story of a man named Ron, sent to Russia to work with the ministry Athletes in Action - he developed a ministry to prisoners and orphans.  The author had met Ron in Moscow.  The article shared about Ron's background, stating: "When Ron was in his late thirties, he came to faith in Christ. At the time he was a highly successful commercial real estate developer in Toronto and was supervising the building of the largest shopping mall in the city."  The story continues: "He read in his Bible the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:36, I was in prison and you came to Me. He felt the Lord telling him he needed to visit men in the local prison and share the Gospel with them."

But, it turned out that Ron was committed to doing more than merely visiting.  He actually worked with the warden of a prison to rent a room there.  So, Ron developed the shopping mall by day and spent his evenings and nights at the prison, and "held group Bible studies and discipled prisoners."

This did not set well with those who had invested to build the shopping mall.  The article relates:

The investors gave Ron an ultimatum: either move out of the prison or be fired. He turned in his resignation and continued to live in the prison.

A week later, the investors called Ron in and said, “We see you are serious about living in the prison, but we need you.” They reinstated Ron’s position and he continued developing the shopping mall by day and teaching prisoners at night.

Years later, he teamed up with the writer of the God Reports story, Stephen W. Barrett, and his wife, Cindi - first in Vienna, then in Moscow a few years after that, in 1991.  As he writes in the book, The Unlikely Missionary, "Under the influence of Ron’s vision to start a prison ministry, I visited over 75 prisons throughout the former Soviet Union and Mongolia. Because of his example and his heart for orphans, I was also motivated to visit orphanages, sometimes as many as 100 a year."

The article states that, "Known for his courage in street evangelism and family-inclusive outreaches, Ron often quipped that his real estate days taught him to 'build on the Rock.'"

Ron took the words of Jesus seriously - from the passage in Matthew 7 about building on a firm foundation to Matthew 25, where Jesus directed His disciples to minister to "the least of these."  Even to the extent of essentially living among the prisoners.  We can consider how seriously we are taking the teachings of Jesus and how we see ourselves carrying them out.

We can also make sure that we are guided by the love of Christ in our interactions.  The Kingdom of God does not advance through self-centeredness, but through loving other people to the extent that we are willing to lay our lives down and walk with them through heartbreak and hurt.  Selfishness is a barrier to obedience, and we must humble ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to use us for His purposes.